04313
July 14, 2004

Hard-liner with a history

Many see hand of ex-general behind violence in Ambon

by John Filiatreau

AMBON, Indonesia — Some Indonesians believe the most recent violence may be related to the current presidential campaign. Theirs, not ours.  

       On July 5, Indonesian voters went to the polls to elect a new president. Because none of the five slates won a majority, the top two finishers will meet in a run-off election on Sept. 20.   

     The No. 1 vote-getter was the favorite — Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, a former chief security minister. Three candidates were in a tight race for second — incumbent President Megawati Sukarnoputri; Amien Rais, a moderate Muslim leader; and Gen. Wiranto, a hard-line Muslim who commanded the Indonesian  troops that helped anti-independence militias kill about 1,000 civilians before and after East Timor’s 1999 vote to secede from Indonesia.  

       Wiranto has been accused by the United Nations of “crimes against humanity” in East Timor. Yudhoyono also commanded troops there, but has not been accused of war crimes.

       Twenty years ago, Wiranto was a key aide to Suharto, the dictator who ruled Indonesia for more than three decades. Many Ambonese hold to the theory that he and his henchmen stir up trouble to keep anxious Indonesians attuned to their message that what the far-flung, ethnically-diverse country needs is a tough, military-style commander who can restore and maintain public order and keep other parts of Indonesia from going the way of East Timor.

       In his usual stump speech, Wiranto promised, “If the Golkar party wins ... the country will certainly enjoy peace.”

       Wiranto is a favorite of Ambon’s Muslims — whose kampungs are plastered with campaign posters of the candidate wearing a Muslim cap — and is anathema to Christians.

       Apparently the run-off will pit Yudhoyono against Megawati. Both are reported to be wooing Wiranto in hopes of making an alliance with his (formerly Suharto’s) Golkar (“Functional Groups”) party, the largest and richest of more than 20 Indonesian political parties. Whoever gets his support will be favored in the September election and will have a leg up on putting together a ruling coalition.

       In legislative elections in early April, Golkar led the way, winning 129 of 550 seats in the House of Representatives. Megawati’s Democratic Party of Struggle won 109 seats, Susilo’s Democratic Party 54.

       The Jakarta Post speculated in a May editorial that “events in Ambon may be part of a larger political game,” but like other conspiracy theorists, named no names and provided no specifics.

       The Roman Catholic bishop of Ambon, Msgr. Peter Canisius Mandagi, was marginally less tactful in an interview with the Presbyterian News Service, blaming the violence in part on “certain presidential candidates” who “use conflict as part of their strategy.” He clearly was referring to Wiranto, but didn’t name him.

       An Army spokesman quoted in a national newspaper seemed to agree with the bishop’s analysis, although he too stopped short of naming Wiranto. “We can do nothing about the interference of certain presidential candidates in outbreaks of fighting in Ambon,” he said, “since, despite being generals in the past, they are no longer in ... the Army.”